OPENINGS
Friday
“Some Girl(s)” — through Oct. 28 at Profiles Theatre, 4147 N. Broadway; $25-$30, 773-549-1815. Profiles Theatre kicks off an entire season dedicated to the work of theater bad-boy Neil LaBute. In LaBute’s typically provocative 1996 play, a forty-ish single guy revisits a disparate array of past girlfriends he treated badly. As in many of his other plays, LaBute probes the nature and limits of human cruelty.
Saturday
“The Magnificents” — Through Nov. 3 by House Theatre of Chicago at the Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western Ave.; $17-$22, 773-296-6024. Along with the upcoming commercial transfer of “The Sparrow,” the House Theatre is opening its latest all-new show, featuring longtime ensemble member (and magician) Dennis Watkins. The show is about a magician and his wife and their quest to create a family; it’s directed by Molly Brennan, the anchoring talent of the 500 Clown troupe and a newcomer to the House.
Sunday
“Suddenly, Last Summer” — through Oct. 27 by Shattered Globe at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.; $20-$35, 773-871-3000 and www.shatteredglobe.org. Tennessee Williams’ Southern Gothic tale digs up the past of a New Orleans family.
“Phantom” — through Nov. 11 by Porchlight Music Theatre at Theatre Building Chicago, 1225 W. Belmont Ave.; 773-325-9884, 773-327-5252 and www.porchlighttheatre.com. After closing its hit run of “Ragtime” at the Apollo Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre debuts a season of musicals composed by Maury Yeston. Perennially (and lucratively) confused with the Andrew Lloyd Webber “Phantom of the Opera,” the Arthur Kopit/Yeston version of the classic melodrama is viewed by many as a superior composition. It was once a huge hit at the old Candlelight Dinner Playhouse.
“Elmina’s Kitchen” — through Oct. 14 by Congo Square Theatre at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, 777 N. Green St.; $27.50-$32.50, 312-733-6000, 773-296-1108 and www.congosquaretheatre.org. Congo Square Theatre begins a new residence on Green Street with this new production of a piece by the British playwright Kwame Kwai-Armah. A hit at the National Theatre in London and on BBC-TV, this 2003 play is set in a West Indian cafe in London and focuses on three generations of black Britain, a difficult father-son relationship in particular.
Monday
“The Busy World is Hushed” — through Oct. 14 by Next Theatre Company, Noyes Cultural Arts Center 927 Noyes St., Evanston; $23-$38, 847-475-1875 and www.nexttheatre.org. Keith Bunin’s well-received off-Broadway play from last season makes its Midwest debut. It’s a love triangle that fuses issues of faith and romance — and it kicks off another Next season focused on contemporary American plays.
Thursday
“Hello, Dolly!” — through Oct. 21 at Theatre at the Center, 1040 Ridge Rd., Munster, Ind.; $36-$39 at 219-836-3255 and www.theatreatthecenter.com. The most famous married couple of the Chicago theater — Paula Scrofano and John Reeeger — star in this revival of beloved Jerry Herman classic.
